The principles that should be followed when applying for registration and use of trademarks are: the principle of prior use and application, the principle of distinctiveness, and the principle of combining voluntary registration with compulsory registration.

1. The principle of first-come-first-served use and application.

While adhering to the principle of first to apply, we also emphasize the legitimacy of first to use and prevent unfair preemptive registration.

2. Principle of significance.

The trademark applied for must be distinctive and easy for consumers to identify. Originally, the most basic function of a trademark is to distinguish operators of the same goods or services and facilitate consumers to choose their favorite products. Therefore, trademarks must be distinctive, and common names or signs lacking distinctiveness cannot be registered as trademarks.

3. The principle of combining voluntary registration and compulsory registration.

While implementing the principle of voluntary registration, our country has stipulated the principle of compulsory registration for trademarks used on a very small number of goods as a supplement to the principle of voluntary registration. Currently, the only products that must use registered trademarks are tobacco products, including cigarettes, cigars and packaged tobacco.

The conditions for applying for registration and use of trademarks are as follows:

1. Subject conditions:

Applicants for trademark registration must be: enterprises, institutions established in accordance with the law, Social groups and individual businesses. Individual partnerships or foreigners or foreign enterprises from countries that have signed an agreement with China or participated in international treaties with the Chinese Communist Party or handled on the basis of reciprocity.

2. Application conditions:

When applying for trademark registration, the category of goods or services for which the trademark is used should be determined according to the classification of the goods and services classification table. If the same applicant uses the same trademark on different categories of goods, he should file registration applications in different categories according to the classification of goods. This can avoid unfair expansion of the scope of application of trademark rights.

3. Procedural conditions:

Comply with the procedural conditions for trademark applications by the trademark registration authority:

Legal basis: Article 5 of my country’s Trademark Law , goods that the state stipulates must use registered trademarks must apply for trademark registration. Currently, the state stipulates that there are two types of goods that must use registered trademarks: human medicine and tobacco products.